in time
by TpLoz
Summary: Lucy has been waiting for this day for 23 years, but the nerves show to be too much for her to handle. - AU where each person has a timer on their left wrist and when it's at 0 days, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, they know they've found their soul mate.
1. Chapter One

**AN: Soul mate fics give me life, but I have yet to come across any in this fandom! ;-; So, if anyone has any suggestions at all send them my way :3  
Regardless, I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

Today was the day, the day she would finally meet her soulmate.

Her impatience made her fumble out the door of her apartment, nearly dropping her keys before she stuffed them in her bag. She was meeting up with Levy today, so they could chat aimlessly about books and whatnot.

But, if Lucy was honest with herself, she felt like too much of a nervous wreck to go anywhere.

In her mind she made a list of things she needed to buy before she met Levy: some pens, tea and a new notebook.

She could get all of those in her local newsagent, easy. She rushed in and out in a breeze.

Her nerves had peaked now, the timer on her wrist read _0 days,_ _23 minutes, 56 seconds._ She was due to meet Levy in 30 minutes. Gnawing at her lip, she sent Levy a text: _might be late, my timer is close to zero._ Also adding a nervous looking emoji to the text.

Levy's reply was a lone shocked emoji.

Lucy kept walking, with her heart beating with trepidation. When the timer was at _0 days, 10 minutes, 26 seconds,_ she found herself needing to sit down for a minute. Exactly after the minute was up, she continued walking to her destination.

Her mind began to dance with anxious questions like: _what if they don't like me? Has that ever happened before?_ Every question her mind asked made her sigh, there was no taming her feral thoughts.

At _0 days, 4 minutes, 40 seconds_ she saw some people looking at eachother with awe-struck grins, showing each other their timers. She wondered what her reaction will be.

At _0 days, 2 minutes, 58 seconds_ she stopped to look at a window display, smiling at the bright flowers that decorated it.

She let her thoughts wander as she walked down the foot path towards her destination, she was too deep in thought to notice she had just walked onto a pedestrian crossing without looking. The streets were pretty quiet, but there were still a few cars driving around.

And, unfortunately, there was one headed for Lucy. But Lucy was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the blaring of the car horn until it was too late.

She turned her head towards the car, which was unable to stop in the frosty conditions because of the icy road, and let out a small scream of horror. Squeezing her eyes tight, bracing for the impact, she flew through the air and hit the ground.

 _Am I dead?_

It was strange, she felt intact. No pains or aches. She was conscious, with no throbbing head.

Hands cupped her face and the owner of them urgently asked if she was okay. In answer, she opened her eyes to find a worried looking man staring at her. She thought her lungs had stopped functioning, the man was a thing of beauty, with tan skin, onyx eyes and _pink hair._ It complimented him so much she didn't think she could imagine him with any other colour.

Then she remembered, _her timer_. The thing that she had forgotten about in favour of thinking about her soulmate. She lifted her left wrist up and goggled between it and the man in front of her. The man gazed at her wrist with wide eyes, before adopting a wide grin that she decided she loved.

He lifted up the sleeve of his coat and showed his timer to her, the grin still adorned his face.

 _0 days, 0 minutes, 0 seconds,_ the same as her own.

* * *

Levy was considering whether Gajeel and herself should get Chinese or Indian takeaway tonight, when she caught sight of her beaming best friend, and her companion.

They reached the table Levy was seated at, still grinning at each other and holding hands. 'They look so cute together!' Levy cooed in her mind.

Lucy was the first to speak, exuberance dripping from her voice, "Levy, I would like you to meet Natsu."


	2. Chapter Two

It had been six months since they had found each other, and those six months have been the best six months of Natsu's life. He was so happy he couldn't imagine his life without her any more.

He gazed at her sleeping features and held her closer to his chest, he buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. Yup, he definitely couldn't imagine his life without her.

His infatuated mind wandered to the time when they met. The circumstances weren't the best, but it was one of the best days of his life, especially after what had happened six months prior.

* * *

Natsu sat on a bench outside a park. He half-heartedly took in his surroundings; the pedestrian crossings scattered around, the café across the street which was full to the brim of patrons demanding hot chocolate on the cold, frosty winters day, and finally the park behind him.

His eyes lingered on the park, it was missing something, not that anyone else would notice.

He sighed at the thought and sat back on the bench, reverting his gaze back to the street in front of him.

He never thought he'd feel this lonely when his old man was gone, the loss had hit him hard and sudden, he wasn't sure if he'd ever recover properly. His friends badgered him constantly to get out of his apartment. Somehow he found himself here after wandering aimlessly through the streets of Magnolia.

Igneel would bring him to this park nearly everyday when he was kid, they'd feed the ducks which sometimes left Natsu getting soaked because he fell into the pond trying to pet them.

Natsu smiled wistfully at the memory before frowning again, now he was just a shell of what he use to be. No laughter, no grins, no fun.

His thoughts would have continued down this path if a dazed blonde woman didn't walk right in front of him, seriously. If he had the inclination he could have reached out and touched her.

However, his world seemed to freeze, a weight seemed to lift off his chest and his world was no longer dreary and dull, but instead full of colour. This ground-breaking change brought a realisation to his mind, this woman was his soul-mate. Someone he'd forgotten about in his world of pain and mourning. He didn't even need to look at his timer to know.

Standing up from the bench, he ran to catch up with her, but noticed several things before he could; she was staring at her wrist, she seemed to be totally lost in thought and she was walking onto a pedestrian crossing even though there was a car driving in her direction.

He shouted at her to stop, he couldn't afford to lose someone else so he reasoned that he wouldn't and sped up.

She stopped in front of the oncoming car and let out a small scream just as he reached her. He sent them flying to the other side of the road, him cushioning her fall.

A few seconds after impact, he opened his eyes to see her eyes squeezed tightly shut. He softly laid her on her back and cupped her face, doing a quick check to make sure she wasn't cut or scratched.

"Hey, are you okay?" He tentatively asked and she opened her eyes. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled, so happy she wasn't seriously hurt.

Realisation dawned on her face and he noticed her eyes were looking between him and something else… He turned his head and he found himself face-to-face with her timer.

 _0 days, 0 minutes, 0 seconds._

He stared at it for a moment before grinning at her, he hadn't grinned like this since before Igneel died, but he was too drunk on happiness to realise this.

Still grinning, he moved the sleeve of his coat to get a glimpse of his timer before showing her.

His breath caught when a grin lit up her face, her eyes brightened and dimples appeared at the corners of her grin.

They both were too busy stupidly grinning at each other to notice the queue of cars behind them and only noticed when someone shouted obscenities from their open window.

Finding their feet and making their way to the foot path, she introduced herself, "I'm Lucy." She sent an adoring smile his way and he sent one back, "Nice to meet you Luce, I'm Natsu."

* * *

Natsu chuckled at the conversation they'd had and when he'd met Levy, who had gushed over the couple despite only meeting him.

Unfortunately his chuckle had reverberated throughout his chest which woke Lucy up. She was grumbling and glaring at him with sleepy eyes, which only made him chuckle more.

She pouted and asked, "Wha' are you laughing at?" Her words slurring slightly in her sleep deprived state.

Natsu grinned down at her and replied, "You, sleepy head."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, but instead of responding she snuggled into his chest and after a few moments was breathing softly again.

Natsu huffed out a laugh and decided he should shut his eyes for another hour or so, but before he did, he kissed her head again and whispered, "I love you Luce."

 **AN: I must say, I really prefer this chapter to the other one, probably because I put more thought into this one, but oh well! I really hope you enjoyed this, because I enjoyed writing it! :D To be honest I actually planned to update this yesterday, but it was my first day back at school and boy was I tired.**

 **Thank you for your reviews, favourites and follows! They are really appreciated and it's actually really nice to talk to you and hear your opinions. :) Anyway, I'm going to stop waffling and let you get on with your day/night.**

 **Thank you for reading and the disclaimer is the same as last chapter because let's face it, if I were Hiro Mashima I wouldn't spend my time writing fanfiction.**


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